“Twas in the Neffieng Deeps that it came upon us. We were ploughing the Warp in as .ne a style as the old Oath of Praxus could be expected to. Our navigator, Torkael, was loyal as ye could hope for, no high-born navis nobbilly was he, came from the distaff branch o’ one of the clans ye might say. Still he hid himself wi’a cloak and mask and if you couldn’t stand the stink ye had no place on the Oath for the old girl reeked like a hive sump in summer. First sign of trouble was when Torkael started blubbing and shrieking. We couldn’t get any sense out of him but the surveyors could just about make out something big coming up on us. Captain Orson steadied the lads and roared that he didn’t care where we ended up but he’d be damned if he’d stay in the Warp. With that we made a translation back to real space and it was a rough one without Torkael’s help. I was watching the surveyor readouts and I’ll swear the thing outside was almost on us when the warp engines kicked in. I couldn’t speak or think, such was the terror that filled me, then the deck came up at me and the translation turned me inside out. It took me a few minutes to come to, there was some who didn’t. As I say it was a rough trip!

There were stars outside at least, none of us had any idea which ones they were but any seemed better than what we had run from, damned fools that we were. I went to Torkael, he was all done in but he chattered at me for a while before he went and he said what he saw. He said it were a great horde of daemons out of hell, harnessed to a chariot inside of which was a horned thing with skin of blood and a dozen arms tipped with black claws. Then he looked me in the eyes and said that it weren’t over yet and that I should get to an escape pod straightway. Then he spluttered and died. There was something about the way he spoke, and before I could really think on it I was in a ship’s boat looking out the port. I was just beginning to call meself a damned fool when I saw it.

It was like something fluid was moving between me and the stars, making them go fuzzy and blurred. Staring hard I could just about make out an outline circling around the poor old Oath like some beast o’the void. As I watched a slash appeared, a great tear through which I could catch a glimpse of the infernal warp as a great crimson ship sheared its way through. Then I felt the fear again, it caught me and paralysed me and forced me to stand and stare at the horn growing from the pitted hull, at the barbed tentacles hanging off it, at the way the hull bubbled into the shapes of screaming faces. Then there was a roar that shook the oath as the devil ship fired its engines, if its engines they were, for the roar was the scream of a million suffering souls in the furnace of hell. The thing turned toward us and I could see the crimson ship but I could also see through it to the daemon host and the charioteer that Torkael had mentioned and I cast off and fired me engines. The ship’s boat turned over and over as it fell away, I cared not to steer, just to go fast as I could. The acceleration knocked me all about, afore I blacked out I saw the crimson ship rip through the old Oath of Praxus, splitting her hull like butter while the hooks sliced into the crew faster than ye could blink, bursting them and dragging them in the wake. Damn me for a liar if ye will but I could hear the screams.

Who can say how the Daemonships came to be? Some say they are created when ship’s crews sacri.ce themselves to the dark gods, seeking immortality in return for daemonic servitude. Alternatively, it is argued that they are ships of the damned, condemned by acts so heinous as to defy description, their crews and captains in thrall to the dark gods forever. Those who know something of the Warp claim that Daemonvessels are ships lost in the Warp. For centuries or even millennia, they disappear from the real universe only to re-emerge with a crew of daemonkind.

Tales of Daemonships go back to the earliest days of the Imperium. Often the ships are mere manifestations, appearing to spread terror but disappearing as quickly with no tangible evidence that they were really there. The great orbital space dock above Sorraspair 3 was said to be plagued by such an apparition prior to its destruction by the Thousand Sons in M.37. The legend says the apparition took the form of a great battleship built in an ancient style, which circled the station, its hull wreathed in bale fire, transmitting a continual plea for admittance.

There are rumours exchanged by Navigators of spectral ships that ply the Warp. The Navigators perceive these ships both as twisted parodies of normal ships and as convocations of daemons. There are tales of these Daemonships pursuing their prey back to the material universe. This has led to the theory that Daemonships can only leave the Warp by following in the wake of another vessel and that at other times they are trapped in an endlessly shifting ocean of madness. Typically, there has never been enough reliable evidence to confirm any hypothesis.

Although most of the tales of Daemonships describe them as lone hunters captured renegade navigators have, under close interrogation, suggested that pacts can be made with any of the daemons of the Warp. Normally, the time that a daemon can spend in real space is severely limited. Without the power of the Warp to sustain it, then it will be diminished, gradually losing its stability before translating back to where it came from. This process can be prevented by ritual worship or by binding the daemon in an object or living thing. To know exactly how this is done is forbidden knowledge but it stands to reason that possessing a great ship would give a daemonic host greatly enhanced stability. In time of war, one could expect the Sorcerers of Abaddon to add to the strength of his fleets with such apparitions if they are able to.

The incidence of sightings of Daemonships has been tenuously linked to the incidence of flares of the warp storms comprising the Eye of Terror. If this connection is verifiable it gives great cause for concern for no less than seven warp storms are currently in flare, the most for centuries. If ever it were possible for such monstrosities to be bound to the service of renegades and heretics then that time is now.

The basic profile of a ship, which is upgraded to a Daemonship remains unchanged. It does not matter what broadside weapons you replace with Daemonship components the ship’s profile is not changed.

The points cost to upgrade a Capital ship to a Daemonship is as follows:

A Daemonship may not be commanded by a Warmaster or a Chaos Lord even if it is the largest ship in the fleet. This is an exception to the normal rule. A Daemonship may not have a Chaos Space Marine crew. Any number of capital ships can be upgraded to Daemonships subject to these limitations.

Daemonships cannot carry Exterminatus weapons and do not score any points for landing troops in a planetary assault (the daemons are bound within the hull of their vessel, whilst able to board enemy ships normally in the context of a BFG game they would become unstable if holding a planetary objective for any length of time).

Any Daemonship may have a single Mark of Chaos with the same effects and cost in points as described in the Battlefleet Gothic main rule book.

Daemonship Leadership is rolled as normal (1=6, 2,3=7, 4,5=8, 6=9)

A Daemonship may be kept off table at the start of a game. The rest of the fleet is deployed as stated in the rules for the mission being played. The Daemonship(s) are actually lurking in the Warp waiting to either be summoned by one of the on-table Chaos ships or drawn to the ripe souls aboard an enemy ship. In the End phase of any Chaos turn, after the first, they may enter play from the Warp as follows:

Select a friendly or enemy Capital ship, only a Capital ship contains enough supplicants or victims to draw a Daemonship from the Warp. Position the Daemonship within 20cm of the chosen vessel facing in any direction desired by the Chaos player controlling it. Next, roll 4D6 and a Scatter dice and reposition the Daemonship accordingly, keeping the ship on the same heading. If a ‘Hit’ is rolled on the Scatter dice, then the Daemonship arrives on target.

The arriving Daemonship is unaffected by Celestial phenomena and does not trigger attack by ordnance markers it may happen to land on. If it would appear in contact with an enemy vessel, reposition it by up to 1 cm so that it is out of contact.

The Daemonship has now pierced the fabric of real space and has started to manifest itself. It is not entirely present in real space, however, although it is real enough for enemy vessels to track its location and react to its presence. It is in effect a spectre. Any enemy vessel attempting a special order when within 15cm of it is at -1 Leadership. Apart from this, it has no effect, can do nothing to affect enemy ships and cannot be harmed in return. It cannot launch ordnance, trigger mines, be affected by Celestial phenomena, nothing, at all – OK!

At the end of any subsequent Chaos End phase it may complete the translation to real space. It does not have to and may remain a spectral, haunting presence as long as the Chaos player wishes. When the decision is made to translate to real space roll a D6 - on a roll of 2 or more it becomes solid. This .nal translation cannot be made if the Daemonship is in contact with an enemy vessel. No actions can be undertaken in the End phase during which final translation occurs (no sneaky teleport boarding attacks or suchlike). From this point on the Daemonship is solid and fights like a normal ship.

A Daemonship may disengage at the end of any Chaos Movement phase without having to make any dice roll. It simply drops back into the Warp leaving no trace.

A disengaged Daemonship may re-enter play on any Chaos turn following the one in which it disengages. This is done following the translation rules detailed above.

If it was damaged when it disengaged it may be repaired when it returns, roll a d6:

1, 2 or 3   – no change,
4 or 5   +1 hull point,
6   +2 hull points.

Add +1 to the roll if it is a battleship.

Add +1 for each full turn the Daemonship spent in the Warp.

A returning Daemonship cannot come back with more hits than it could normally have. At the end of the game a Daemonship which disengaged (even just once) will count as having disengaged for Victory points purposes, unless of course it is destroyed or crippled when the normal rules apply.